Happy Tuesday everyone! We’re so close to Thanksgiving and I can’t wait! While Thanksgiving doesn’t have many traditions, I love my family’s traditions and celebrating with them. Also, I’m starting to feel burnt out from the semester and can’t wait for a break.
Today’s internship post discusses the University of Connecticut Dietetic Internship. I found the school the other day and thought it looked interesting. So of course I had to do some more research and share with y’all! Here’s all you need to know about this school’s DI.
Internship Basics
The University of Connecticut offers a non-degree dietetic internship that takes over nine-and-a-half-months, from August to May. The program accepts 6 students each spring out of nearly 50 applicants (12.5% acceptance rate). Although the internship doesn’t provide a master’s degree, the school does offer a Coordinated Master’s Program that ends with an MS in Health. This post, however, focuses solely on the UConn internship.
Even though a master’s isn’t an option, interns complete two 3-credit graduate courses in the fall: Advanced Medical Nutrition Therapy, and Contemporary Nutrition Issues and Research. These courses provide interns with knowledge that will help them succeed in their rotations. During the spring, interns also participate in seminars and discussions on campus.
Rotations
Like every internship, UConn offers community nutrition, food service management, and clinical rotations. Most rotations, however, concentrate on urban issues. The University of Connecticut is in Hartford, a diverse city that’s the third largest in the state. Hartford is a microcosm for the state of Connecticut. Although the state is the third-richest, it struggles with income inequality and areas of poverty. Therefore the UConn internship is perfectly suited for this concentration.
To learn about urban issues, interns spend most of their time at the Hartford Hospital, a level 1 trauma center. The hospital offers rotations in surgery, orthopedics, oncology, organ transplant, and many more. Additionally, interns work for three weeks with programs around the city that help solve some of the city’s unique nutritional problems. These include WIC, food pantries, school nutrition, and the Food Corp.
Other rotations give interns the chance to work in outpatient settings, long-term care, and wellness organizations. Interns also experience three weeks in a research rotation and two weeks in a specialty rotation of their choice.
What Stands Out at University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut’s dietetic internship pages seemed very data-driven and detail-oriented. The website proudly states that 100% of interns completed the program from at least 2014-2017. There’s plenty of examples of this throughout the site. The dietetic internship student handbook is one of the most detailed I’ve seen as well. It lists several rotation sites by name, and specifies how long rotations will be and what interns will accomplish.
That all makes sense if you think about it. Because many rotations are in a clinical setting, numbers matter. And catching little details is important when working with patients.
Why Choose the University of Connecticut Dietetic Internship?
The University of Connecticut Dietetic Internship’s mission is “improving the health and nutrition of the public through: preparing competent and competitive entry-level registered dietitian nutritionists, research in health promotion and disease prevention, service to the profession and community, and practice in diverse urban settings.” Therefore, UConn’s internship might be a good fit for you if you…
- Enjoy Connecticut and the Northeast
- Want to learn more about urban issues
- Would like to focus on clinical settings
- Are interested in a shorter internship
Resources
Interested in learning more about UConn and their dietetic internship? Here’s some websites that I sourced for information or found useful!
- UConn Dietetic Internship main page
- Application specifics
- A page giving some examples of interns’ first jobs out of the internship
- Finally, for an in-depth look at the internship and application requirements, here’s the UConn Dietetic Internship Student Handbook.
Interested in the University of Connecticut Dietetic Internship? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
Until next time,
Emmalee
